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Xbox One was the UK No.1 games console over Black Friday
- Thread starter Theorry
- Start date
I have a feeling that Microsoft will be very aggressive with the Next-Box price and bundles.
People tend to prefer PS consoles, but depending on how low MS charges for its hardware, that can change very easily.
People tend to prefer PS consoles, but depending on how low MS charges for its hardware, that can change very easily.
We don't have any evidence that it would work for the gaming industry in the same way. It could but it also may not. It's difficult to gauge what the attach rate of these services will be when we are talking about casual/budget buyers.
Of course it may work out exactly as you say, only time will tell obviously but at the moment they are making a loss by selling that low (I work for a big computer parts company so I have an idea on how much parts will cost Microsoft).
I think MS are banking on it. Im not sure eco systems matter too much if your gaming is based on 3rd party multi's due to cross-save/cross-play. If people value thier libraries then no one's limiting them to a single console, there's enough reason to own both now, GP + multi with Xbox, everything else on PS.
The SAD aint that bad considering you get gamepass with it and at that price? Sheesh. If I was new to Xbox this gen I'd be ecstatic.
I would say that the strategy of doing these deals and the general might be indicative that someone who approved this strategy did the math and that is why they are doing it.
It makes sense to me and it's what I thought a lot of people would do even if the price was higher. We're coming to the end of the generation and I imagine a lot of people who have owned a PS4 or Switch (or both) the whole time are realising now is the time. You can basically purchase a cheap as chips Xbox One SAD (or a second-hand Xbox) and get GamePass for a year. You can play almost everything you've missed out on from Microsoft for a relatively small amount in the grand scheme of things and then buy PS5 whilst cancelling GamePass & trading in your Xbox. Most people are probably only picking up 2-3 major games on their PS4 next year anyway.
yes we do...consoles. They were sold at a loss for generations...
So Sea of Thieves did around 100k when it was bundled with every Xbox console? Or even higher when people claim it was packed in with other games?
Good sales for MS. The key thing is get consoles in to as many hands as possible in hopes to sell people on subs. Wish Sony did this.
Microsoft should just bite the bullet over here in the UK and make the All Digital Xbox One S £100 for all of December
Nothing like that, just find it interesting how much revenue can be generated in the UK. The more the better, I like to see MS invest in the UK and the better they do the better it is for the UK games industry.
OP
OP
Dont think it was packaged with every console. You also had for example the Jedi Fallen Order Bundle for X and S
Take the problem from another side : the removing of the optical drive isn't made to gain margin for the manufacturer but to avoid physical installation of games for the end-user, and so the online store the only possibility to play games on that device.
Absolutely.
This however doesn't make sense, downloading a game is the equivalent of installing a physical version, I'd even argue it being much worse without a fast internet and game sizes going up.
Microsoft's key metrics are MAUs and Gamepass subscribers.
console sales revenues aren't a part of that. Unit sales and MAUs should really be of far greater interest to you, since that'll be what drives further investment.
or taking a less cynical approach, this package is designed for children's, where they know they know games are typically free to play.
Also the existence of gamepass for this same customer group renders the discs drive an unnecessary expense , the main Barrier to purchasing games and subscriptions is having a machine to play on.
I'd need to recheck that, but I'm pretty sure that's an urban myth.
Consoles may have been sold at cost price occasionally, but selling at a loss rarely happens.
I really think MS at this point just wants people with something connected to the xbox service so they people can check out game pass. At this point late in cycle I'm not quite sure if they are even looking at revenue from actual hardware sales.
Consoles have been sold at a loss to get people in the ecosystem in just about every gen since the ps1. It might have occurred before that but I'm unsure.
That is not an urban myth. Go check out Phil Harrison interview on ign that happened recently
I don't know but I rely on the statements in this thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/se...k-friday-transforms-uk-charts-week-48.156388/
I don't know that I agree with your second point looking at what appears to be 40k difference with a $99 console in the UK market, seems to be a lot to project based on that unless you're also projecting Scarlet being significantly cheaper than PS5, but I definitely agree with your first. Microsoft came out with the SAD to do just this, drop the price to $99 (which should be the regular price anyway), and compete during the holidays.
Yep can't be certain about the early days with nintendo ,sega and others but MS and Sony for certain .
Still if i remember right Nintendo don't normally do it .
Still the business model is different from a streaming service in terms of making money so you really can't compare them .
I think times have changed recently. But I'm sure part of Nintendo's business model was that the machines Did more than break even, so even the GameCube was a successfull product for Nintendo.
It could be part of the same urban myth, but having seen firsthand the pathetic retailer margins for hardware, it kind of stacks up there are not big bucks in the machines.
I think Sony/Microsoft did scale back a little on how cutting edge the machines were to keep this loss to a minimum. Research firms still estimate that he console PS4 was sold at a loss at launch
How the hell did Switch manage to land in the same ballpark as Xbox with 2x/3x price? Its incredible.
What did you find was the best way to stack up on Gold/Game Pass?
As we approach Christmas and the lite having just launched- kids presents. It's the same every year for Nintendo handhelds.
The loss is usually quite small in comparison and if you actually look at the profits of the companies at the time when they sell at the highest loss (console launch) they are usually in the red or close to it.
The hardware (consoles) definitely isn't where they're making big money. But to my knowledge, the "at a loss" is overblown. It's usually during specific phases (like launch period for example) and it's not like they're selling the console half-price. They're only losing a meager percentage when it happens (bar maybe some very contextual sales like insane BF deals).
That was not what I meant, I stated that you would not be able to reach 99€ with a system without throwing something out. I am not sure how close they are to 99€, but with a Blu-ray player they would be further off.
And of course I understand that Microsoft want to get you into their ecosystem.
It reminds me of people being defensive when other people complain about nintendo high price games
Black Friday Week History
XB1
2014: 108,678
2015: 133,745
2016: 92,578
2017: ???
2018: >100,000
2019: >100,000
PS4
2014: 108,087
2015: 139,011
2016: 142,578
2017: >143,000 (Best Black Friday Week sans 2013/launch)
2018: >100,000
2019: 60,000
NSW
2017: ???
2018: >100,000
2019: >100,000
For 2018, we know PS4+XB1+NSW was over 300K, with PS4 "...the best-selling machine, narrowly ahead of Xbox One, which was narrowly ahead of Nintendo Switch".
XB1
2014: 108,678
2015: 133,745
2016: 92,578
2017: ???
2018: >100,000
2019: >100,000
PS4
2014: 108,087
2015: 139,011
2016: 142,578
2017: >143,000 (Best Black Friday Week sans 2013/launch)
2018: >100,000
2019: 60,000
NSW
2017: ???
2018: >100,000
2019: >100,000
For 2018, we know PS4+XB1+NSW was over 300K, with PS4 "...the best-selling machine, narrowly ahead of Xbox One, which was narrowly ahead of Nintendo Switch".
Software rules, no one understands this better than Nintendo, they deliver the goods more consistently than anyone else. The Switch has broken out from the diehard Nintendo fan ghetto to the must own console for everyone. Plus, it's available as a dedicated handheld, a market Nintendo has all to themselves.
Oh yeah I forgot about the Lite aka the Nintendo handheld, which is weird considering I bought one last month. Should've waited for BF deals.
What are you on about?
The switch is literally not even 3 years old. Let's see how its selling on black Friday 4 years from now. It's still relatively new.
The secret was to let customers make the choice themselves. MSs mistake is they tried to "force" it onto the customer and didn't even have the answers worked out to put people at ease when the difficult questions started to fire off.
They were basically a generation too early, but now with the help of all platforms pushing more and more digital they are in a position to capitalize on that initial plan.
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Yeah the SAD deal was amazing. Still surprised at them selling the most though. I mean anecdotally I did know a few people who bought one, and less so for Switch or PS4, but a $99 gamecube also didn't set the charts on fire. I figured at some point a console is just done and nothing can really resuscitate it.
